"Jesus, there you are," Paige sighed in relief as Piper entered the manor. "You had Phoebe and I worried sick."
"I'm sorry," Piper apologized. "I was doing some serious ass kicking."
"That's all you do lately," she replied. "I just hope you're being careful."
"No fatalities yet," she said.
"Not funny," Paige told her as the two walked through the kitchen and toward the sunroom. "You're in a good mood."
"Am I?"
"Yes . . ." Paige replied suspiciously as Phoebe greeted the pair.
"You're just in time, we have magical mischief problems," Phoebe said.
Piper sighed as she sat down. "Will I have time to change my clothes?"
"Nope, it's urgent. Besides why would you dirty another outfit?" Paige replied slapping her sister on the back. Dust flew off Piper's clothes and Paige gave a cough. "Gees, where the hell were you?"
"A cave," she answered.
"Wonderful," Phoebe replied. "Our problems are more domestic. Two feuding witch families, preparing for the ultimate battle."
"We're going in to play peace keepers," Paige said.
"Neutral, like Switzerland, I see the strategy," Piper replied.
"You are in a good mood," Phoebe grinned.
"That's what I said!" Paige exclaimed. "Piper just can't recognize a good mood when she has one."
"Well, it's been awhile, alright, give a girl a break," Piper said in her own defense as she rose stiffly from the chair. "Listen, I'm going to go change, I don't care what you two say. I'll be down in a few so we can go break up the third world war."
Piper quickly made her way for the steps only to find herself running smack into one of the house's many occupants. "Watch it," he said.
"You watch it," Piper replied folding her arms across her chest. "You're never gonna leave are you?"
Chris rolled his eyes. "Not until I save the future," he answered.
"And how will you know when you do that?"
"I just will," he assured her before quickly turning and making his way through the main hall.
Piper gave a roll of her eyes before continuing to her bedroom only to find an intruder. "Hey!" she shouted. She raised her hands but he quickly stopped.
"Easy, I'm no demon," he told her.
"You have two seconds to explain before I do something drastic," Piper warned.
"I'm Coop . . . I'm a cupid."
"A what?"
"I'm here to help you find love," he answered.
"I don't need help finding love," Piper snapped.
"Oh sure you don't," Coop replied. "Trust me I know you Piper."
"You know me?
"Okay... umm... you lie awake at night. You're afraid you may never find love again. The best years of your life lost, battling for the greater good, but at the cost of starting your own family …"
"This is getting creepy," Piper said. "And I don't have time for this, I have to help my sisters with some demon problems - - -"
"Not right now you don't. You see the Elders sent me - - -"
"The Elders?" Piper repeated with wide eyes.
He nodded. "They feel guilty you know after everything went wrong."
"You mean Leo put you up to this?"
"I'm not at liberty to tell," he answered.
"Well, then I have to go," Piper told him rising from the bed. "And next time you enter my bedroom without notifying me, I will make sure I blow your ass up!"
Coop watched as she made a swift exit and brought a hand to his forehead. "Great . . ." he sighed.
"What do you mean a cupid?" Phoebe asked her sister as they sat on a couch at the club.
"I don't know," Piper replied. "I just know that he was sent by the Elders."
"By the Elders? By Leo?"
"He's not at liberty to tell," Piper mocked.
"It sounds fishy to me," Paige said.
"Or very interesting," Phoebe replied with a raised eyebrow. Paige and Piper granted her with questioning looks. "What? Now that Jason and I are broken up sometimes I feel like I'll never find love again and it would be nice if someone could just find my true soul mate for me."
"Sounds lazy if you ask me," Paige scoffed.
"Like I see you out there on the prowl," Phoebe retorted. "We're too busy or too dumb to find our true loves on our own so it seems."
"Yeah, well I just don't like the idea of the Elders sending someone to do it for me," Piper said.
"He's not here to do it for you, Piper," Chris cut in as he took a seat with the sisters. "He's here to help and you should listen to him."
"What makes you so sure?"
"I'm from the future, remember?" he replied.
"I still don't understand why you've come back to change the past . . . when are you going to tell us what goes wrong in the future?" Paige asked.
"It would reveal too much if I were to tell you now," he answered. "But I can tell you that without Coop … I cease to exist in the future."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean if you don't cooperate with him, I won't be alive to go back to the future."
"You're still confusing us," Phoebe replied.
"Good," Chris said, rising from his seat. "You just worry about the present . . . let me think about the future."
Piper yawned as she climbed the stairs, yearning for much needed rest. Her heart nearly jumped at the sight of Coop sitting in front of her door. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Notifying you that I am about to enter your room," he answered. "I wouldn't want to get my ass blown up . . . I was hoping we could just talk."
"Yeah, sure," Piper replied. "But I'll save you the trouble if you're going to try and convince me why you should help me because Chris already talked to me."
"Chris?"
"This kid from the future that the Elders won't let leave the past which is our present because he may have changed the future when he altered our present which was his past . . ." Piper said her own head spinning in circle at the statement. She gave a yawn. "The truth is I just really want to go to bed, it's been a long day Coop, so in short; I'll let you help me find my 'True Love' okay?"
"Great! Because I already got you a date," Coop exclaimed.
Piper nearly choked. "A what?"
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Henry," the man greeted awkwardly as they sat at the small table. She forced a smile.
"I'm Piper . . ."
He gave her a nervous smile. "I've never really done this whole blind dating thing, so you'll have to excuse me."
"It's no problem, I'm new to it myself" she assured him. "So . . . what do you do?"
"I work with the SFPD. I'm a parole officer," Henry answered. "What about you?"
"I own a club . . . P3, I don't know if you've heard of it - - -"
"You're kidding. You own that place?"
"Five years now," Piper replied.
"Well, it's a small world I guess than, isn't it?"
"Very small . . ."
The pair slowly walked up the porch steps, Henry Mitchell following close behind her. She stopped as she reached the front door, turning to face him. "I had a nice time tonight, Henry. Thank you."
"I did to," he smiled. "Maybe we can do it again sometime?"
Everything inside her screamed no, but she couldn't. He was sweet and those puppy dog eyes made her melt. She gave a nod. "Yeah."
"You busy on Thursday?"
Piper shook her head.
"Well, I guess it's a date then," he said.
"I'll see you on Thursday," Piper affirmed.
He gave a brief nod before leaning in and giving her a soft kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Piper."
"Goodnight, Henry," she said. He slowly turned and she leaned against the door, watching until he disappeared from the front porch. Letting out a brief sigh she turned and opened the door.
"Scale of 1 to 10?"
Piper nearly jumped at Coop's voice. "My God, where did you come from?!"
"You didn't answer my question," he replied, closing the door behind her. "Was the date successful?"
"I guess . . ." Piper started, only to spot Phoebe bounding down the stairs.
"Someone is home from their first date!" she exclaimed. "Oh how'd it go?"
"It was fine, Pheebs," Piper answered.
"Fine, that's all I get?" Coop asked.
Phoebe's eyes widened. "I'm guessing that you are the cupid?"
"Yeah, I'm Coop," he replied, their twinkling eyes locking together. They slowly shook hands and Phoebe suppressed a laugh. "What?"
"Nothing, I was just expecting a diaper and bows and arrows," Phoebe exclaimed.
He rolled his eyes. "Common misconception," he replied.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that - - -"
Piper cleared her throat. "Okay, people, back to my problems," she announced. "Coop, I don't think that Henry is the ideal guy for me."
"You're kidding," Coop sighed. "What's wrong with him?"
"I don't know," Piper said, slowly making her way toward the living room.
"You don't know?" he asked, following behind her with Phoebe. "How am I supposed to get you a new guy if I don't know what's wrong with the first guy? And if he's not for you why did you agree to another date?"
"You agreed to another date?" Phoebe asked anxiously. "Why would you do that?"
"I felt bad. He had those cute puppy dog eyes and I didn't want to make him sad," Piper groaned as she flopped down on the couch. Phoebe slowly sat down next to her and Coop sat down across from them on the coffee table.
"This is exactly why the Elders sent me," Coop started.
Piper groaned. "I really hate when you say that."
"Leo and the Elders just want to see you happy," Phoebe assured her.
"Since when?" Piper asked.
"Now I guess," Coop replied. He ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, this isn't going to be an easy process - - -"
"Obviously."
He cleared his throat. "You're going to have to give me some time. I'm not going to find a Prince Charming on the first day . . . For now you're just going to have to give Henry another try."
"He can't be that bad, Piper. I know you, you're picky," Phoebe said.
"I'm not picky!" Piper protested. "He was just . . . just . . ."
"Sweet? Charming? A cop?" Coop asked. "I gave you the best I could on short notice and to be honest Henry is a fine guy."
"I'll give it another try! Okay?!" Piper exclaimed. "Wouldn't want to mess up the future anyway!"
"Future?"
"Just another one of our many problems," Piper sighed as she rose from the couch. "And I'll have you know I think this is all very dumb and unnecessary!"
Phoebe and Coop listened as she stomped up the stairs in silence. "Is she always that pleasant?" he asked.
"Are you kidding? You're lucky that's all you got," Phoebe said with a grin. She sighed. "Listen I know that Piper's probably going to be a challenge to work with . . . but she deserves the best, Coop. So please don't let her end up with someone else who is going to hurt her."
"I won't, Phoebe. That's part of my job," he assured her.
"Good," she sighed. "Because I think we're all a little wary of the male species in this house."
Coop gave a smirk. "Well, I hope I can help you restore your faith in us," he replied.
"I wish you the best of luck," Phoebe laughed. "It's gonna take a lot more than a charming smile and a sweet voice to win us back."
"Us? Are you sure you're not just talking about yourself?" Coop asked raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe I am . . . or not," she answered slyly. "That doesn't matter anyway though. You're here to help Piper find love, not convince me that you men aren't sleaze balls . . . not that I think you could anyway."
"That sounds like a challenge to me," he replied with a grin.
Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "How about you just worry about one sister at a time," she said.
"If you insist," he told her as he slowly rose from the couch. He grabbed her hand with his own and placed a kiss on the top of it. "But you will find I am very good at multi-tasking."
"Smooth, very smooth," Phoebe laughed as he slowly released her hand. "Don't you have arrows to go shoot?"
"I'm working on it," Coop replied with a smirk. "I'll see you later, Ms. Phoebe."
"Bye Coop," Phoebe said as he teleported out. She sighed for a moment, suddenly spotting Chris leaning against the wall. He gave her a smirk. "What?"
"Nothing," he replied, still grinning as he pushed himself away from the wall and made a swift exit.